Postal Service plans to cut Saturday mail to trim costs

Impact on local post offices, businesses expected to be minimal

Diane Santoyo, an 18-year veteran of the U.S. Postal Service, delivers mail on the western edge of Boulder on Wednesday afternoon.
(
PAUL AIKEN
)

In hopes of shaving an estimated $2 billion off its annual budget, the financially beleaguered U.S. Postal Service announced Wednesday that it will continue delivering packages six days a week but, beginning in August, it plans to stop delivering other mail on Saturdays.

It is not entirely clear how the agency, which receives all its funding through fees on postage and services but is still subject to congressional control, will implement the move without congressional approval. Over the past several years, the Postal Service has advocated shifting to a five-day delivery schedule for mail and packages, but Congress has repeatedly chosen not to endorse such a plan.

What is clear is that the agency expects the local impacts to be minimal.

Post offices that are open Saturdays would remain so under the plan, and post office boxes would still receive mail six days a week.

Postal Service spokesman David Rupert -- noting the agency has reduced its workforce by 189,000 career employees since 2006 as part of a plan to cut costs -- said Wednesday that local offices will see no immediate change in their staffing as a result of the move.

"Right now, we're saying there won't be any jobs lost," said Rupert, adding that the service reductions will eventually translate to a total loss of 45 million hours of work annually, equivalent to 22,000 jobs. "There will be less work, obviously, especially as this shakes out. But most of our employees work five days a week. Flexible hours and overtime, that's what is going to be hit."

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The impact of discontinued Saturday mail delivery on local businesses has yet to be determined, according to John Tayer, president and CEO of the Boulder Chamber, but he has not heard of specific concerns from members.

"As we deal with any policy issue of this nature, we first want to understand the impact to our members and the Boulder business community and respond accordingly on their behalf," Tayer said Wednesday. He expects the chamber's policy committee to examine the plan.

"I can tell you that I have not received any specific outreach from our members telling us this is something of great of concern."

Jennifer Simpson is business development manager at Boulder-based Output Services Inc., a 30-year-old document processing company that specializes in printing, mailing and electronically delivering business invoices, bills and financial statements. She said she supports the change as a means to keep the Postal Service viable.

"We've heard that this has been in the works for a while, so it was just kind of a matter of time," said Simpson, who sits on the board of the Northern Colorado Postal Customer Council. "The Postal Service is doing what it needs to do to stay in business, which is really what matters to the folks like us in the mailing industry."

Simpson said that, for many of Output Services' clients, she expects the changes will have little to no impact on operations. Some of her company's clients in the financial services industry may have to begin sending out certain notices earlier to meet time requirements to process statements, she said.

"We will work with our clients that may be impacted by this, and there are a variety ways to do so," Simpson said. "It could mean adjusting cycles if it's bills and/or helping them migrate more toward electronic delivery."

The move accentuates one of the Postal Service's strong points -- package delivery has increased 14 percent since 2010, officials say, while the delivery of letters and other mail has declined with the increasing use of email and other Internet use.

The agency, which in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 reported a net loss of $15.9 billion, primarily related to payments into a health benefits fund for future retirees, referred to the planned change as a positive step toward financial health.

Officials clearly think the agency has a majority of the American public on its side on the matter. A news release issued Wednesday said research has indicated that nearly seven in 10 Americans support the switch to five-day delivery as a way for the agency to reduce costs.

"The American public understands the financial challenges of the Postal Service and supports these steps as a responsible and reasonable approach to improving our financial situation," Postmaster General and CEO Patrick Donahoe said in the release. "The Postal Service has a responsibility to take the steps necessary to return to long-term financial stability and ensure the continued affordability of the U.S. mail."

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